Devon News
11:49, 29 Sep 2025
Grockle, a novel by Barry S Dowding
At an age when many are winding down, Barry S Dowding has published his first novel — a gritty, heartfelt story set against the backdrop of 1970s North Devon.
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But the story behind the story is just as compelling. From career transitions to personal heartbreak, Barry’s path to authorship wasn’t smooth. What kept him going? Stubbornness, perhaps. But more than that — a need to create, to reflect, and to remember.
The idea for Grockle — Barry’s debut novel — had been with him in fragments for years. “I began scribbling the start of the book some time before,” he says. “But at the end of 2020, after deciding to spend time on it, I had no idea of the title. As the book progressed, the title became the obvious choice.”
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Set in 1974, Grockle tells the story of Liam O’Keefe, a tough East Londoner who flees the city after a violent encounter with a gang leader ends in death. Running from his past, Liam lands in North Devon, trading aggression for anonymity. Slowly, under a new identity, he begins to embrace a more connected way of life — charmed by the countryside, the characters, and a young waitress who makes him feel, for the first time, that he might belong.But North Devon’s peace is only skin-deep. When new friends ask Liam for help, he’s faced with a stark choice: return to London and his brutal past, or risk losing the future he’s only just discovered.
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It’s a story full of tension, place, and transformation. And while Barry is quick to distance himself from Liam’s criminal exploits, the emotional themes — reinvention, belonging, escape — are drawn from somewhere closer to home.
“My memories of the atmosphere then, coupled with my memory of 1974 being a turbulent time in the UK, together with that of London, where I came from, gelled,” he explains.
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Barry’s love for North Devon runs deep. He moved to the area in 1973, and it left an impression that never quite faded.
“North Devon, particularly Barnstaple, was so different from today,” he recalls. “The population, of course, was lower, with a greater number of indigenous Devonians, and the streets full of wonderful if eccentric characters.”
It’s these characters, places and moments — from long-gone railway lines to pre-link road quietude — that shaped the world of Grockle. It’s more than setting; it’s atmosphere.
“Can you imagine a North Devon pre-link road, with no Taw Bridge, no Green Lanes? Shapland & Petter, as the biggest employer, trains running between Bideford and Barnstaple along what is now the Tarka Trail?” In writing, Barry captured the charm and simplicity of that era—and the tension of what lay beneath. Like Liam O’Keefe, North Devon in 1974 was on the cusp of change.
What makes Grockle’s publication all the more remarkable is the context in which it was written. In January 2021, Barry’s wife Sylvia was diagnosed with a life-altering illness. Alzheimers disease. As her sole carer, he took on full-time responsibilities, committed to keeping her at home, despite the emotional and physical toll.
“At first it was challenging, dealing with the changes, emotional as well as physical,” he says. “But time created an acceptance that has made the caring role a daily routine.” Amid this, writing became more than a pastime. “It helped me enormously in that when time permitted, it provided a separate and positive outlet to concentrate on,” Barry says. “And being a stubborn person, at no stage did I consider stopping.”
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Though not one to chase external validation, Barry admits the early response has been encouraging. “It’s early days yet as I have only recently started to promote the book, locally as well as elsewhere,” he says. “But the response from family and friends has been very positive, I’m pleased to say.”
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Despite everything, Barry is already working on his next project. “I certainly see myself writing more books,” he says. “In fact, I am in the process of resurrecting one I started a long time ago, as well as working on a new idea.”
It’s a gentle reminder that creativity doesn’t retire. It may pause, or adapt, but as long as there’s something worth saying — and time to say it — Barry will keep going.